bfiovnlow



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R. S. BROWNLOW. CONSTRUCTION OF APPARATUS FOR SOFTENING AND PURIPYINGWATER.

No. 461,664. Patented Oct. 20, 1891.

wiinassas (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. R. S. BROWNLOW. CONSTRUCTION OFAPPARATUS FOR SOFTENING AND PURIFYING WATER.

No. 461,664. Patented OctQZO, 1891.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD SYDNEY BRO\VNLO\V, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

CONSTRUCTION OF APPARATUS FOR SOFTENING AND PURlFYiNG WATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,664, dated October20, 1891.- Application filed November 4, 1.890. Serial No. 370,285. (Nomodel.)

To dZZ whom it 11mg concern.-

Be it known that T, RICHARD SYDNEY BROWNLOW, a subject of the Queen ofGreat Britain and Ireland, and residing at Manchester, in the county ofLancaster, have invented Improvements in the Construction-of Apparatusfor SofteningandPurifyingVVater, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates chiefly to apparatus employed in the purificationof water by the addition thereto of chemical reagents, which cause theprecipitation in a solid or flocculent form of the impurities containedtherein; but it is also applicable to the purification of any water orfluid containing precipitalole matter.

The object of my invention is to so construct the apparatus as to compelthe fluid to take a much more devious course than usual and to present agreat number of precipitating surfaces or inclines.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of anapparatus made according to my invention, the casing only being insection. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, all but the lowest ofthe plates (marked c)being removed and the casing beingin section. Fig.3 is a sectional plan view of the apparatus. Figs. 1, 4E, and 6 show invertical section, and Figs. 5, 7, and 8 in plan View, modificationshereinafter referred to.

I form a vertical chamber (preferably cylindrical) and I partiallydivide the same by a vertical diaphragm or midfeather passing through ornear the center of the vessel, or I otherwise provide the chamber with avertical central division. 7

. On the drawings, a is the cylindrical casing, and b is the verticaldivision-plate or midfeather. b I fix a series of baffle-plates c and c,sloping downward, as shown in Fig. 1, and semielliptical in shape, so asto entirely cover the space between the plate or midfeather b and thecorresponding half of the cylinder Cb. (See also plan, Fig. 3.) Theseplates 0 and c, as well as being sloped downward from the division I),as-shown at Fig. 1, are set at a slight inclination, as shown at Fig.2,. the upper edges of the plates 0 all being inclined in one directionand being parallel, or nearly so,

while those of the plates 0' areinclined in the On each side of thisdivision-plate contrary direction. The inclination is such that theedges of each plate 0 touch outside the division-plate b the edges oftwo adjacent plates 0', which are on the other side of thedivision-plate, and similarly the edges of each alternately at eitheredge of the vertical division-plate b and at a gradually-risinglevelwill cause the water admitted at 00 to flow first to one side of thedivision I) and then to the other, and to rise in so doing by a seriesof inclined lifts to the outlet y, (see Figs. 1 and 2,) or the upperedges of the plates c 0' may be so cut that they correspond with eachother exactly at the edgeof the division 1), in which case no triangularspaces are. formed. I also place division-plates d at right angles tothe plate 2), or thereabout, the plates (Z passing through the plates 0c, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, or I otherwise prevent the fluidfrom passing straight from edge to edge of the said plate b, so that itmust alternately rise and descend as it passes from one side to theother of the partition I) in the direction indicated by the arrows onFigs. 1, 2, and 3.

The precipitated impurities collect in the pockets formed by the lowestportions of the inclined shelves, whence they can be drawn off orejected through the taps 6 into the p f- The vessel to, instead of beingcylindrical, may be of any other suitable shape, the baffle-plates beingof course suitably formed.

The plates 0 and 0', instead of being inclined, as shown at Fig. 2,and'touching the division bin a straight line all along their inneredges, may be made as shown at Figs.

(See diagram, Fig. 1.)

4: and 5, so as to meet each other at about half of each plate a willunite with the longer half of one plate 0'; but the longer half of thesame plate 0 will join the shorter half of the next higher plate 0, asindicated in Fig. 4. The two halves of the several plates 0 and c areseparated by the plate I), as seen on the drawings, and the fluid passesupward and downward and round the outer edges of the plate b, asindicated by the arrows, gradually rising up in the vessel a, as theascending passages g are longer than the descending ones 9'. In thiscase the plate (Z may be dispensed with, if desired.

Figs. 6, 7, and 8 show how, instead of circling round the plates 1) andd, the fluid may be made to pass first on one side and then on the otherside of a partition-plate d, (either provided with or without verticalplates at about right angles thereto,) by making each inclined plate ameet its opposite plate a at about right angles in a horizontaldiametrical line at the center of the vessel, as at c 0 Figs. 7 andS. Inthe drawings the plates 0 c in this modification are shown as joined inone at 0 In this case the partition (Z touches the wall of the vessel (Lat one edge, and at or near this point of junction spaces 2' are cutaway in the plates 0 alternately at either side of the partition d, asseen by the plan views of adjacent plates at Figs. 7 and 8, so that thefluid takes a reversed course above each pair of plates 0 c, the waterrising through the spaces 11, as shown by the arrows on Figs. 6, '7, andS.

The taps e for the removal of the deposit are arranged on opposite sidesof the vessel, as shown.

In all these arrangements it will be seen that the fluid is made to risethrough the vessel a with an upward and downward and at the same timeeither continuously circulating or alternately reversed motion.

I am aware that inclined plates (parallel or otherwise) have beenarranged in a settling or precipitating chamber to cause the fluid totake an upward and downward or serpentine course as it ascends ordescends, and the fluid has also been caused to take a continuouslycirculating upward motion. I therefore make no claim to sucharrangements; but

I claim as my invention- 1; The combination, in a vertically-placedvessel, of superposed plates or planes inclined from a central lineoutward in opposite directions to the edges of the vessel and formingpassages sloping alternately upward and downward, with a verticaldivision and communications between such adjacent passages, whereby theliquid in passing up through the vessel is caused to circulate over theplates or planes first on one side of the vertical division-plate andthenon the other, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a vertically-placed vessel, of superposed platesor planes inclined from a central line outward in opposite directions tothe sides of the vessel and forming passages sloping alternately upwardand downward, with a vertical division, each such passage communicatingat one side with the one above and at the other side with the one below,whereby fluid is caused to rise through the vessel with an upward anddownward and at the same time continuously-clrculating motion around thevertical division, substantially as set forth.

3. A liquid-purifying apparatus consisting of a vertical vessel providedwith a vertical division-plate in the center of the vessel and slopinginclined bafflingplates, each battlingplate at the two ends of its upperedge outside the division-plate meeting the two adjacent plates, whichare on the opposite side of said division-plate, substantially as setforth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD SYDNEY BROWNLOW.

Witnesses:

JNo. HUGHES, J. E. HUGHES.

